Importance of Oxygen Control During Bottling

In the food and beverage industry, the ingress of Oxygen into the finished package can/bottle can affect the product’s shelf life and taste. 

The greater the concentration of oxygen in the container's headspace or dissolved in the solution itself, the greater the flavor degradation. The presence of oxygen causes negative quality characteristics in beverages such as beer and wine.

Challenge

There are two points of entry for the introduction of oxygen into the sample. The first is during the filling or in the headspace through incomplete fobbing (foaming of beer during processing or dispensing). Carbon dioxide (CO₂) or a mixture of CO₂ and nitrogen (N₂) are used to "purge" to limit the amount of oxygen trapped in the container. 

Solution

High CO₂ quality is essential to finished product quality and affects sensory outcomes, taste, beer foam, and product shelf stability. Online monitoring of low oxygen concentration (< 10 ppm) with the Low Concentration (ppm) Zirconia Oxygen Analyzer, Model OX400, provides continuous measurement of CO₂ quality. It enables quick shutdown of equipment in case of a process upset when oxygen concentration approaches 80 ppm. The result is less product waste without compromising product quality.

Key Benefits

Predictive maintenance​

• Indication of analyzer health and prediction of sensor lifetime​
• Less affected by contaminants yielding longer   sensor life and high measurement sensitivity

High reliability and easy maintenance

• Small and compact sensors can be replaced onsite
• Unique cell design = fast response time

Simplified maintenance

• Compact sensor can be replaced onsite -

Wide range

• 0-10 ppm to 0-100 vol% O_2​​